The latest in a series of major break-ups and coming-togethers in the Baltic legal market has been completed and resulted in the emergence of another new pan-Baltic operation.
The new alliance is called Derling and brings together three firms that have all previously been allied to other Baltic networks. In Estonia this includes Derling, a team made up of lawyers previously part of the Tark Grunte Sutkiene that split from its former firm in April, operating initially under the name TGS before rebranding as Derling.
In Latvia, Kronbergs Čukste Derling is the new name for Kronbergs & Čukste, formerly part of the Baltic Legal Solutions network. Having lost the Vilnius office to Tark Grunte Sutkiene in 2014 and a team of eight lawyers to LinkLaw in early 2015, this now leaves the Estonian office of the network, Glikman Alvin & Partners, as an independent firm once more.
The Lithuanian branch of the firm has changed its name from Dominas & Partners to Dominas Derling in recognition of its new affiliation. The firm had been operating independently for a number of years but had previously been part of the Glimstedt network under the name Bernotas & Dominas Glimstedt.
This move is the latest shift in the Baltics as part of an ongoing reorganisation over the past two or three years that has impacted virtually every ranked firm in the region, either through a signficant change in personnel or through a rebranding exercise.